Basidium

A microscopic spore-producing cell in fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota. It typically forms sexual spores externally on small projections called sterigmata.

Basidiospore: A sexual spore produced externally by a basidium in Basidiomycota. This is the spore the basidium produces and disperses.
Basidiomycota: A fungal phylum whose members produce sexual spores on basidia. Basidia are the defining reproductive cells of this fungal phylum.
Agaricus bisporus: A cultivated mushroom species whose basidia commonly produce two basidiospores. Its reduced spore number provides a clear example of variation in basidial output.
Ascus: A sac-like spore-producing cell in Ascomycota, typically forming spores internally. An ascus is the principal counterpart to a basidium, producing spores inside rather than outside.
Sterigma: A slender projection of a basidium that bears a basidiospore. Basidiospores typically develop at the tips of these projections.
Dikaryon: A cell or mycelium containing two genetically distinct haploid nuclei per cell. Many basidiomycete cells remain dikaryotic before nuclear fusion in the basidium.
Coprinopsis cinerea: A mushroom-forming fungus widely used to study fungal development and reproduction. Its experimentally tractable fruiting bodies make basidium development easier to investigate.
Conidium: An asexual fungal spore formed without sexual fusion. Conidia are asexual propagules, unlike the sexual basidiospores formed by basidia.
Karyogamy: The fusion of two nuclei within a cell to form one nucleus. Nuclear fusion in a basidium precedes the meiotic divisions that produce spores.
Clamp connection: A hook-like hyphal structure that helps maintain paired nuclei during cell division. Clamp connections preserve the dikaryotic state that often precedes basidium formation.

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